At Least 10 People Wounded in Beirut, Bekaa Clashes
More than 10 people were wounded when pro-government supporters and partisans of Hizbullah and AMAL movement clashed in Beirut overnight with gunfire and grenades, hours after Gen. Michel Suleiman took office as Lebanon”s President.
Press reports on Monday said the fight which began with sticks in the Corniche Mazraa neighborhood of West Beirut quickly degenerated into violence, with rival supporters exchanging gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Future Television, mouthpiece of parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, said 16 people were wounded in an "attack on civilians" by Hizbullah.
Maqassed hospital, however, said it received 18 wounded.
Fighting ebbed when Lebanese army troops cordoned off the area and closed the road between Barbour and Tariq Jedideh.
Press reports said the incident came as Hizbullah supporters were celebrating a speech by their leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who vowed his group would not use its weapons to achieve political gains.
Hizbullah supporters claimed supporters of Hariri”s al-Mustaqbal movement insulted then in return they reacted by firing off an RPG at the Sunni Abdel Nasser mosque in Corniche Mazraa.
Clashes also were reported between partisans of the Hizbullah-led opposition and pro-government supporters in the Bekaa Valley, with gunshots and RPGs fired in the village of Saadnayel, heightening tension before army troops stepped in and restored order.
It was the first such incident since the army took control of West Beirut after Hizbullah pulled out its fighters following several days of mostly Shiite-Sunni clashes earlier this month that killed 65 people.
The ruling majority, according to some media reports, was cautious following the incident even after calm prevailed over the clashes-hit area since fighting was not just restricted to Beirut but also elsewhere in Lebanon.
Majority sources expressed hope that no political motives were behind the clashes, or a "message" to newly elected President Michel Suleiman in a bid to "reinforce the status quo."
The sources, however, stressed the violence is proof that the "field is still hot."